Microsoft bets on Kinect-like gestures for the future of Windows Phone
Microsoft is trying to cram Kinect-like features into its future flagship Windows Phone handsets. At least one device, codenamed McLaren, will debut on a range of US carriers later this year with features that let you hover …
Context & Ripple Effects
Microsoft has been looking for ways to carry Kinect's sensing work beyond the living room ever since its 2011 reporting on how Kinect and its offspring were reshaping the company — this rumor is the phone-scale version of that ambition. The claim, still unconfirmed, is that a handset codenamed McLaren ships on multiple US carriers later in 2014 with hover-based gestures built in.
The story travelled unusually widely for an unconfirmed leak: The Verge's report was picked up the same day by Windows Phone Central, Neowin, Gigaom, Engadget, Computerworld, Softpedia, LAPTOP Magazine and Network World — a sign of how starved the Windows Phone ecosystem is for flagship-level differentiation.
First-order effects
- If the McLaren rumor holds, Microsoft gets a 2014 flagship whose headline feature — hovering over the screen rather than touching it — is something neither Apple nor the leading Android vendors ship, giving US carriers a genuine point of difference to merchandise.
Second-order effects
- Rival handset makers would face pressure to answer with their own sensor-based input features, pulling depth-sensing and proximity component suppliers deeper into the smartphone bill of materials.
Third-order effects
- Miniaturizing Kinect-style perception into a phone would mark the shift of gesture recognition from a console peripheral to a standard mobile capability — the same trajectory the 2011 coverage traced as Kinect's technology spread through Microsoft's product lines.
The trend: Microsoft's sensing technology is migrating from the living room into handheld devices, with gesture input positioned as Windows Phone's differentiator against iOS and Android.